The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1887-04-22
THE DRESSING ROOMS.
AN ACTRESS SPEAKS POINTEpLY OF
A GREAT GRIEVANCE.
Acc0mmO datiOns Out Of Town That Are
. Disgrace to Managers-Experience In
q Den Infested with villainous Cook
rOacles.A Nuisance.


roacles.A Nuisance.
Tho radiant adolescent was talking to the
sunny haired actress, or rather was drawing
her out and doing the listening. He was one
Of those little, STACEY men who blink and look
wise when they know nothing about the sub.
ject in hand, and who maintain an appear
ance Of blandly stolid imbecility when their
mind is not quite blank.
"And so they treat you so badly behind tho
scenesl" he said smoothly, as the sunny haired
actress tried to clean pink satin slipper with
ammonia and then made wry face because
the pungent chemical "went up her nose"
ruthlessly. ~ wouldn't etand 1t, by Jove. not
for minute"
"Oh, yes you would" said the little lady,
making another ammonia dab; "youd stand
q great deal more than do; you'd jump II
you got the chance, ha! ha! You see, wo oil
expect too much. Now, l. fore went upon
the stage used to imagine that each evening
/ should be shown to a dainty little dressing
room, richly carpeted, handsomely furnished,
be-looking glassed, be-chaired and be-sofa'd.
was idiotic enough to suppose that the man.
agement would supply wardrobe In which
could keep my dresses, my properties ana
everything to which laid claim. Instead OF
all this-oh, my heart sinks when remember
IT.
"You don't mean to say that you don't get
decent places to dress and undress INF" psked
the radiant adolescent, possessing himself OF
pink slipper and standing it on its little big
heel
IN THE OUT TOWNS.
"Listen," she said tragically, striking an
attitude like the favorite pose of Fanny Dav-
export in Fedora" I'm not going to tell
you anything about New York dressing
rooms, because-well, l don't know very
much about them, and my engagemahts-
ahem!-call me principally to the provinces,
but can tell you all about the accommoda-
tions out Of town. They ore simply villain
Gus. They are disgrace to the managers OF
theatres. Now, in one town / visited-1
won't mention names-I was shown my dress
ing room by the manager himself, who told
me he thought it such an Improvement on
the general run Of dressing rooms. 1t was
q wooden box, not as large as one
of the bathing rooms at the Battery
baths On one of the walls was piece
of cracked mirror, which made my poor Nose
look as though 1t were cut up into sections.
and gave me CHASTITY tint which no amount
of rouge would remove. There were chinks
everywhere, and If there had been one Of
those peeping Toms, one of whom frightened
Mrs Langtry so much at Birmingham,
grieved to think OF the predicament l should
have been in. Was it cold? Well, l should say
it was. That night shivered in my poor lit
tie sippers-those very pink satin ones.
came to the theatre from hot dining room,
in the full process of digesting my repast.
You can imagine with what danger to my
health was forced to undress, put on low
bodice, and stand with trembling shoulders
while rouged myself, gloved myself, and
myself. II my constitution hadn't
become accustomed to such exposure should
have died. I'm going to tell you more terrible
things At one theatre l went to, was
positively shown to dressing room without
q door-not vestige Of one. II chose to
dress in it, must do SO in spite of the stage
carpenters and men Of nll work who passed
and repassed"-
"But you didn't choose, trust!"
"No, l thought it best not to do so. de-
clined to divest myself of stitch until q tenn
porary door Of some kind or other had been
rugged up for me. OF course the men Of all
work were most unwilling to help me, so I
Kept every one waiting by first hunting for a
sheet, mailing it carefully where the door
should have been and then dressing. Next
lay found door-a brand new thing, but
,till door. and though it had no lock, was
very thankful for it.
AN INFESTED DEN.
awhile J. was still new to the business"
continued the sunny haired actress, sitting |
Town by the radiant adolescent, II had to
play the part Of bride in q little far away
place with one theatre-a grand opera house,
If course, where grand opera never could,
would or should be heard. had a magnifi-
cent white satin dress, on which prided my
,elf extremely caused it to be sent to the
theatre to my dressing room to await me
there in the evening. went early. may
,ay that was feeling very nervous and un-
strung, and when feel like that [simpering]
upsets me. Well, the evening
came. i was shown to my dressing room.
Such place! Such vile, cold, contempti-
BILE. bare den! was undressed and was just
taking up my white bridal robe to put on,
when to my disgust, my horror, my loathing,
saw insects crawling over it. uttered a
shrek, dropped it, and I think tainted
ANYWAY don't remember how two Of my
colleagues got into my room, but there they
were. My den was literally infested as with
q plague. There were cockroaches in all di-
rections-c to right, cockroaches
to left,-thc most disgusting, persistent, con-
tinuous stream of the-to me-terrible little
insects. What could dol I had either to
put my dress on or disappoint the audience
and relinquish my salary. put my dress
on. went shudderingly through my part.
but my cockroaches kept making me mental
VISIT and when the critics next morning said
that seemed to be playing with apreoccupied
mind think they were tolerably correct in
their surmises.
an very great many theatres" she went
on, "you find the walls Of your dressing room
If you can dignity them by the name of
undiscovered with legends which some
playful predecessor in a fit of abstraction has
left to Immortality. They are mostly cxcla-
nations, and though they are biblical they
are not elegant. You get weary of Jumping
Jehosaphat' and Holy Moses, when you see
them at intervals Of half an inch where your
wall paper ought to be. I tell you that the
dressing room nuisance is one Of the biggest
nuisances of the day-to US. We stand not
the least chance of having their condition
amelioratcd. We are in the hands of tho
They can do as they like with us.
Our grievances can never be ventilated, as
no one is sufficiently interested in us to help